Write Your Heart Out: Exploring & Expressing What Matters to You - Softcover

McClanahan, Rebecca

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1582970068 ISBN 13: 9781582970066

Publisher: Walking Stick Pr, 2001

Synopsis

Write Your Heart Out explores how to turn personal experiences, ideas and emotions into stories, essays, poems and memoirs. In a clear, insightful voice, Rebecca McClanahan teaches readers how to mine and shape personal material, urging them to write deeply, honestly and imaginatively about the most important people, events and emotions in their lives. She emphasizes the importance of personal writing as both catharsis and discovery, addressing such topics as:

* Writing about the past
* Writing about, and from, strong emotions
* Writing to communicate with family and friends
* Writing about work, goals and interests

Moving from the private to the public, the book's structure is formulated to guide readers in writing personal, heartfelt works that can, if so desired, culminate in publication.

About this title

About the Author

Rebecca McClanahan's tenth book, The Tribal Knot, a multi-generational memoir, is forthcoming from Indiana University Press in 2013. Her work has appeared in Best American Essays, Best American Poetry, The Kenyon Review, The Gettysburg Review, and numerous anthologies. The recipient of the Wood Prize from Poetry, a Pushcart Prize in fiction, the Glasgow Award for nonfiction, and literary fellowships from New York Foundation for the Arts and the North Carolina Arts Council, McClanahan teaches in the MFA programs of Queens University and Rainier Writers Workshop.

Reviews

What makes a how-to writing manual effective often depends on what the reader brings to the book. This book is for those wanting inspiration and new ways of looking at their own world rather than aloof advice on how to improve their technique. McClanahan, the author of six books, including Word Painting, focuses here on the less tangible aspects of writing, with advice on writing from the perspective of joy rather than sorrow and writing letters of love and sympathy. She emphasizes the therapeutic character of personal writing and discusses such topics as writing about the past, work, one's goals, interests, and fears. Her warm and friendly tone is sure to inspire many. Well written and browsable, this book is highly recommended for public libraries. Lisa J. Cihlar, Monroe P.L., Monroe, WI
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Walking Stick Pr
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1582970068
• ISBN 13: 9781582970066
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 214